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Undersecretary of the Air Force for just two months, Eric Fanning is now the acting civilian leader of the military branch after the retirement Friday of Air Force Secretary Michael Donley made him the highest-ranking openly-gay person at the Defense Department. Fanning, having started his career in the Pentagon in the ’90s, will fill the role until President Obama nominates an official replacement. “‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was implemented when I got [to the Pentagon],” Fanning said in an interview with the Washington Blade. “I didn’t know what I was going to do if we didn’t get the repeal through because some people couldn’t work because they were openly gay or lesbian.”

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